F1 News

Wolff says Mercedes have lots to learn in battle with Red Bull

Wolff says Mercedes have "lots to learn" in battle with Red Bull

20-06-2021 16:07
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Mercedes lost out to Red Bull Racing during the French Grand Prix. Team boss Toto Wolff says his team "have lots to learn" in the battle for both World Championships. 

At the start of the race, pole-sitter Max Verstappen ran wide giving Hamilton the lead. Wolff admits this was lucky, but reviews the Mercedes strategy which ultimately let the team down. 

"It went back and forwards. We were in the lead because Max made the mistake, that was a bit of inheritance. And then, our pace was good. But we had a three-second gap to protect the undercut which wasn't enough. We were lacking one second and somehow we lost it," Wolff told Sky Sports. 

Early pit stop

Mercedes opted to pit Valtteri Bottas first rather than front-runner Lewis Hamilton. This triggered the early pit stops and then the subsequent undercut from Verstappen. Wolff explains the team had no choice to make this pitstop. 

"We had no choice. Valtteri's tyre had vibrations. Towards the end, we were really worried about the vibrations because it was coming through the suspension. So he could have had a failure at any time because he flat-spotted the tyres. We knew we were going to trigger the pit stops too early but we had no choice," he added. 

"Lots to learn. They are doing phenomenal out laps, and we need to learn why did we misjudged the undercut. Something we need to look at."